Rayne Drabbles
by Serenity Valley Girl
Summary: This is a series of 4 drabbles Rayne. They were done as part of a writing exercise I did with a friend at work. We picked prompts and set time limits so even though I cleaned them up a bit when typing they are still unbetaed and rough. Please R&R!
1. The Marker

Disclaimer: Joss is still my boss!

The Marker

River knew she was different. No one else saw things the way she did. She'd gotten better then she was before Miranda. She no longer saw a twig where there was really a gun and if there were to be another impending explosion on Serenity she felt confident in her ability to convey a warning that would be understood as such and not as a reminder for her brother to extinguish the candles on his birthday cake.

But River still saw things differently from the rest of the crew. She saw the soup Zoe made Wash after a job gone badly wrong as an apology for ignoring his warning. She saw the reduction in rent on Inara's shuttle as a plea for her to stay. And she saw the marker as a symbol of the future.

It was just a marker; the kind that floated around the ship disappearing in the mess and reappearing in the cargo bay. But River could see that there would come a day when she and Jayne would using it to mark up some targets. She would accidentally write on him and he would grab it and mark her arm. The play fight would end with them both covered in marker and in each other's arms.

No one else saw things the way River did and so she understood why no one could understand the smile she got every time that marker was used. But she saw and so she waited for the future it foretold.


	2. Sloppy

Sloppy

People's brains are sloppy. They are disorganized and disconnected. They say one thing when they are thinking another. For someone who couldn't read minds it was enough to drive a person mad. But since River was already mad the sloppiness was enough to driver her even crazier; maybe even push her so far into madness as to be sane again.

The one crew member whose brain was not sloppy was the person no one would have suspected-Jayne. His thoughts were linear and simple. If he thought something he said it. If there was filter between his mind and his mouth it was seldom used.

But this lack of a filter was the thing that first attracted River to Jayne. Unlike the rest of the crew who were constantly thinking one thing and then doing or saying another, Jayne was straightforward and honest. Being alone with him was so easy; River was able to distinguish hr thoughts from his with little trouble and it much simpler for her words to come out the way she meant them to when she wasn't so busy trying to separate everyone else's sloppy brains from her own.


	3. Socks

Socks

There had been speculation among the crew as to the possibility of a romantic relationship between their merc and their government trained genius assassin. The speculation usually ended in a conclusion that she was too young, he was too _Jayne_ and they'd be much more likely to kill one another as to form any type of romantic attachment. Despite all the reasons why it was it made no sense the crew just couldn't seem to let go of the possibility and so the speculation continued.

Until one day months later another package from his mother was waiting for Jayne when Serenity stopped to pick-up post. This time after reading her letter and discovering there was something enclosed Jayne pulled a pair of socks out of the envelope.

Once again the color combination betrayed the fact that the knitter had been down to the end of several skeins and rather than waste them had decided to use them for this. The arrival of the socks was not what put an end to the speculation, however. It was their size.

There was no way these socks had been made for Jayne. Rather they were the perfect size for a small woman. And when River walked to Jayne's side and smiling took the socks from his hand telling him to than his Ma for the gift the crew knew the speculation was at an end.


	4. Sacrifice

Sacrifice

Jayne had never been the sort of man anyone would sacrifice a piece of gum for let alone their life. But it had happened twice now. On Higgins Moon that stupid id had thrown himself in the path of a bullet meant for Jayne. It didn't matter to the kid that the man Jayne really was and the man the Mudders believed him to be bore little to no resemblance to one another. The kid was still dead.

It had taken Jayne a long while and a lot of late night conversations with the Shepherd to even begin to process why anyone would sacrifice themselves for him and here it was happening again. The crazy girl had gone through the doors and shut herself in a room full of Reavers.

Jayne still didn't understand why someone would do that for him but in that instant he made himself a promise that if he made it off this moon alive he would try to make himself into a man worthy of their sacrifice.


End file.
